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Kowa
Kowa is a Japanese company, which manufactured cameras from 1954 to 1978. It continued to make binoculars and telescopes (among much else), and in 2005 marketed a "spotting scope" with integrated digital camera, thereby again becoming a camera manufacturer of a sort. History The company was founded in Nagoya in 1894 as a textile shop, and entered the spinning industry in 1919. Chronology of the Kowa official website. In 1939, the trading and spinning activities were separated, and the trading company was incorporated as Kōwa K.K. (興和 ). After 1945, the company attempted to diversify its activities, and created the dependent Kōwa Kōki Seisakusho (興和光器製作所, meaning Kowa Optical Works) in 1946. Takasaki, p.12 of no.40. It produced eyeglasses for a short period, then switched to higher value products such as opera glasses, binoculars, rifle scopes or spotting scopes, some of which were bought by the US forces. It also made projection lenses, both regular and anamorphic (for the CinemaScope process), under the Prominar brand name, whose registration was applied for in 1947 and granted in 1948. Trademark registrations (商標登録) no.371965 and 371993, for the name "Prominar" (プロミナー), in the IPDL trademark database. The company entered camera production in 1954 with the Kalloflex 6×6 TLR, then made a series of 35mm cameras with a leaf shutter, some with a fixed wide-angle or tele lens and some with an interchangeable lens. Many of these were rebadged by Graflex as the Century 35 series. In 1960, Kowa inaugurated a series of amateur 35mm SLR cameras, all with a leaf shutter. The last of the series was the Kowa UW190 (1972), equipped with a fixed ultra-wide-angle 19mm lens. In 1968, the company introduced a more ambitious project: the Kowa Six 6×6cm SLR, which would meet some success as the poor man's Hasselblad. It was upgraded in 1974 as the Kowa Super 66, which was Kowa's last camera in the century. In 2005, Kowa, which had continued to sell equipment for birdwatchers and others, marketed a "spotting scope" with integrated digital camera, thereby again becoming a name on a camera. The product was the TD-1. In early 2009 the company described this as discontinued but still in stock; Kowa was marketing a variety of adapters to mate its spotting scopes with cameras from other manufacturers.Accessories for cameras from Kowa USA. 35mm film 35mm viewfinder * Kowa SW * Kowa 35N 35mm rangefinder * Kowa Kallo 35 (f/3.5, f/2.8, f/2) * Kowa Kallo Wide * Kowa Kallo T85 * Kowa Kallo T100 * Kowa Kallo 181/281 * Kowa Kallo 140 * Kowa Kallo 180 35mm SLR * Kowaflex * Kowa Model E * Kowa H * Kowa SE * Kowa SE R * Kowa SET * Kowa SET R * Kowa SET R2 * Kowa UW190 120 film 6×6 SLR * Kowa Six * Kowa Six MM * Kowa Super 66 6×6 TLR * Kalloflex * Kallovex 127 film 4×4 SLR * Komaflex-S 4×6.5 * Kowa Kid, also called Kowa Zen-99, Super-Lark Zen-99 or Light Super 16mm film * Bell 16 * Ramera or Bell Kamra Scope with digital camera * TD-1 See the review of the TD-1 at www.oceanwanderers.com and Kowa's product page. Lenses Large format lenses * Kowa 90mm f/8.0: hugest circle of any 90mm LF lens - covers 8×10in format at f/16. Interchangeable lenses for 35mm cameras See the article on Kowa lenses for other cameras. * Kowa lenses in Leica screw mount: ** Prominar 35mm f/2.8 ** Prominar 100mm f/2 ** Prominar 200mm f/2.8 (for reflex housing) * Prominar 200mm f/2.8 in Exakta mount, Table in Summer 1957, p.109. 42mm screw mount Miyazaki, p.53. or Nikon F mount Picture in this page at Red Book Nikkor. * Kowa lenses in Miranda mount: ** Soligor Prominar 3.5cm f/2.8 (not marked Kowa) Lens observed in a Japanese forum. ** Prominar-Miranda 5cm f/1.9 Lens pictured at the bottom of this page of the Miranda Historical Society. ** Soligor Miranda 50mm f/1.9 with K prefix (likely made by Kowa, not marked as such) ** others The Prominar 7.5cm f/3.5 and 7.3cm f/3.5 lenses in Leica screw mount are not marked as made by Kowa. They are similar to the Sun Sola 7.5cm and 7.3cm f/3.5, and were certainly manufactured by Sun or its predecessor. They were perhaps produced before the name was registered by Kowa, or renamed because of a trademark conflict. Notes Bibliography * * Pp.546–8. * Takasaki Akio (高崎晶夫). "Kōwa kamera no ayumi 1954–1978 nen" (興和カメラの歩み1954–1978年, History of Kowa cameras 1954–1978). Pp.12–7. * Trademark publications for the names "Prominar" in roman and katakana script (プロミナー). The trademarks were applied for (商標出現) on 10 April 1947 (no.S22-3703 and S22-3705), published (商標広告) on 22 October 1947 (no.S22-4416 and S22-4418) and registered (商標登録) on 16 April 1948 (no.371965) and 20 April 1948 (no.371993). Available in the IPDL trademark database. Links In English: * Kowa Six page at kilfitt.org, with a picture showing a Kilfitt prototype apparently related to the Kowa Six * Company data in English and in Japanese in the Kowa official website * Kowa SETR and Kowaflex (English) on Frank Mechelhoff's privates virtuelles Camera Museum (substantially in German) * Cameras at www.collection-appareils.fr * Kowa instruction manuals at Orphancameras.com * Kowa Prominar 200mm f/2.8 lens in Nikon F mount, in the February 2006 Nikon Kenkyukai Meeting Report at Red Book Nikkor In Japanese: * Kowa camera page by Shihira * Kowa camera page * Kallovex, Kallo 35, Kallo T85, Kallo T100 and Kowa UW190 and Kowa Six at Nagoya's Camera Club Category: Japanese camera makers Category: Japanese lens makers *